“But I would love to do girlie stuff. I love doing my nails. I love having my hair done and putting on a dress. Hopefully in the future I can be a bit more girlie.”

Adlington had always planned to take a short break from swimming to embark on a 280-mile charity bike ride across Zambia to raise £50,000 for Sport in Action.

But, clearly disappointed after failing to match the expectations placed up on her to retain her title, she will now consider her future.

Asked if she wanted to spend another four years training for the next Olympics, she said: “I don’t really know to be honest. Obviously I still love the sport or I wouldn’t be so upset and there wouldn’t be this emotion there.

“But I am looking forward to taking a break. I have the challenge of the bike ride but once I finish the bike ride in October I will analyse how much I have missed it [swimming] and see how I feel after that.

"I genuinely love the sport and I still love it now. That will not change. [But] I have to feel like I want to swim.”

She said she was not getting any younger and found training harder now than when she was a teenager winning two gold medals at Beijing in 2008.

“I definitely cannot recover as quickly as I used to,” she said. “I cannot do it at 23. For distance swimming I am not so young. It is part and parcel of it.

“It is one of those things. I don’t know what will happen. It is great the young guys are coming through. Obviously it is amazing.”

She said she was looking forward to the bike ride – albeit with trepidation.

“I have not been on a bike since I was 10,” she said. “It is going to be interesting. I will probably spend a lot more time on the ground than on the bike. I will probably need stabilisers.”

Adlington ends her London 2012 with two bronze medals to go with the two golds won at Beijing.

The US will now be open to accusations of having double standards following Ledecky’s remarkable win.

Earlier in the week an American coach cast aspersions about 16-year-old Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen, who knocked five seconds off her personal best to claim gold in the 400m individual medley beating a favoured US swimmer in the process.

A British swimming source said: “They complained when the Chinese girl won with a time five seconds better than her personal best but when their girl does it they don’t make a sound. That’s Americans for you.”

The Sunday Telegraph asked Ledecky if she now had sympathy for Shiwen.

Ledecky said: “I am not commenting on that.”

Meanwhile it has emerged that another member of Team GB may also be lining up for Strictly.

The Sun has been reported that the BBC is keen to sign Beth Tweddle, the gymnast, for the next series.

Tweddle, 27, considered Britain's most successful gymnast, is a three-time world champion on the uneven bars.

She competes in the final of the apparatus on Monday, after qualifying in first place, and is aiming for Olympic gold – the only accolade to have eluded her during her career. She will retire from gymnastics after London 2012.